This is one of the best recipes I ever did: I love legumes, and black chickpeas are great (the taste is a bit different from the normal chickpeas), and I love also sea fruits like mussels, so to combine them together it’s really something delicious 🙂

It’s not complicated but it requires to think about it at least 24 hours earlier 😀 indeed the black chickpeas require to be soaked in water for a long time. But you can do this recipe also with normal chickpeas, in that case 12-16 hours are enough.

Let’s see how to make it 🙂

INGREDIENTS (2 people):

• 180 g mix pasta
• 75 g of dried black chickpeas
• 700 g of fresh Mediterranean mussels
• half glass of dry white wine
• 1 clove of garlic
• extra virgin olive oil
• fresh parsley
• freshly ground black pepper

1. First of all put the black chickpeas in a bowl with abundant water, and leave them for at least 24 hours.
2. The day after, drain the black chickpeas and put them in a pot with cold water (if you want add also some fresh sage leaves and one clove of garlic), and from the moment the water start to boil, let them simmer slowly for about 2 hours/2 and half (try them).
3. Meanwhile clean carefully the mussels’ shells, brush them carefully and throw away the broken ones.
4. When the chickpeas are almost ready, take a large pan, heat the extra virgin olive oil, and when it’s hot add the mussels, the white wine and cover after the alcohol has gone. Cook at medium/high heat until they will open. Remove then the possible mussels that didn’t open. Then keep the liquid aside for later, and remove the mussels from the shells, keep maybe some for decoration.
5. Now that the black chickpeas are cooked, drain them but keep some of their water. In the same pot put now a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, and when it’s hot add the clove of garlic. When the garlic gets some color remove it, then add the black chickpeas, the water of the mussels and some of the water of the black chickpeas. When the liquid starts to boil add the pasta. There must be enough liquid to exactly cover the pasta. Keep cooking at medium heat, and keep stirring, so the pasta will not attach to the bottom. If needed add some more water of the chickpeas. We don’t need salt because the liquid of the mussels is already enough salty. Just 1 minute before the pasta is ready add also the mussels, and some freshly ground black pepper.
6. When the pasta is cooked, add some freshly chopped parsley.
7. Serve it, add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, garnish with some shell, and enjoy 🙂

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Products used:

Pasta: mixed pasta from Pastificio Gentile